


Schiavo

by gatsbeh-wat-gatsbeh (mugiwaragrl)



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Minor Character Death, luca is luxembourg btw, major character in canon but haha not here, ned says like two lines so far shhhh, sassy belgium, wont mention every single character until they are named /and/ make an appearance k
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-31
Updated: 2014-01-20
Packaged: 2018-01-06 20:48:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1111359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mugiwaragrl/pseuds/gatsbeh-wat-gatsbeh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>1436. Lovino has spent his last five years being thrown from one pirate crew to another, and it’s not ending anytime soon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: nondescriptive/mentions of rape, slavery, mentioned character deaths
> 
> crap summary. basically an AU where everyone is a pirate captain but Lovi. this could be taken as the start of a multi-chapter or a oneshot, bc i want to continue it but i’m not sure if i’ll be able to or drop it in the middle or update once a decade or blah. you get it.
> 
> IT’S DRAMATIC AND ANGSTY AND THE USUAL. ALSO THERE ARE MANY NAMES SO IT MIGHT BE A BIT CONFUSING BUT THE NAMES ARE NOT IMPORTANT FOR NOW THEY’RE JUST BACKGROUND THANK.

 

Dim lights made chains and swords and other glimmering objects stand out in the otherwise wooden room. The floor swayed and the candles flickered in a way that made him jump at every blackout. He was huddled in a corner, eyes wide and darting from one place to another in hopes of seeing as much as possible. There were no windows. He guessed it was some kind of storage room, since the ship was apparently small and unlikely to have any dungeons. He was trembling. He was scared. Even if his life for the past years had been nothing but going from one pirate crew to another, he never got used to the changes. And this time, it hadn’t been nearly as lenient as some others.

His father had been forced to sell him off in the first place, when he was only thirteen. A rather snobby pirate had offered, on request of his first mate and mistress, thirty gold pieces for either him or his brother - a measly sum for him, but a fortune for Lovino’s small family. Why his father had chosen to sell him instead of Feliciano, he didn’t know, but he was partly relieved. Even if he was so poor that he often couldn’t eat, out of the two siblings Lovino was the one who could bear the most.

The snobby pirate - he later learned he went by the name of Edelstein - hadn’t been good to him at all. He demanded of him what anyone would demand of a manual labourer, a maid, and a warrior all at the same time. And when he predictably couldn’t satisfy his demands, that was when the punishments came.

Attacks, raids, and battles were not unusual at all - but the one with the silver-haired enemy was brutal. The only reason Edelstein came out alive was because of Hedervary, the same one who had requested for Lovino, a woman stronger and smarter than most men on the ship including the captain himself. But the silver-haired pirate never got out of a battle without at least a dozen prisoners - or victims, depending on what mood he was in.

And so Beilschmidt became the new owner. The man travelled with his little brother Ludwig, a few years younger than Lovino, and was determined on making him “the best”. He was in many ways similar to Edelstein; arrogant and with a superiority complex, only that this one made it known to all around him. For punishing his henchmen, he preferred hanging them from their toes rather than using the whip, and letting them dangle for days. Lovino wasn’t lucky.

And just when he thought no pirate was more ruthless than Beilschmidt, there came the mad Braginsky. The only word to describe what he did to Beilschmidt’s crew was: massacre. The few survivors, including little Ludwig, had become war prisoners. He disposed of them one at a time, murdering them in an increasingly crude manner. The first one was shot. The second one was hanged. The third one was tied to a weight and thrown overboard. The fourth one was cut and bled to death. Until one night, little Ludwig disappeared and left the former captain Beilschmidt with a satisfied smile. Beilschmidt became the fifth; dismembered. Lovino was going to be the sixth, when Vainamoinen appeared.

It was hard to believe that such a small, young man could defeat a madman like Braginsky, but he did. It was only a matter of strategy. Lovino turned from a war prisoner into a working prisoner, again. Vainamoinen was not so bad of a master, but Lovino lived in constant fear that the battlefield monster he had witnessed would awaken in him if anything went wrong.

When Vainamoinen inevitably found Lovino useless, instead of killing him off, he sold him to the Bondevik traders for fifty gold pieces. A great deal, thought Lovino bitterly. And they sold him off to… Kohler. Kohler was insane, bloodthirsty, and most of all, lustful. It wasn’t unusual that Lovino’s whole pretty boy persona had been the unwilling vent for the captain’s unholy actions.

Oxenstierna, an apparent ally of Vainamoinen, pulled him out of that hell, but only by being the lesser of two evils. He was frightening in both appearance and personality, but held a soft spot for Vainamoinen. He received news of him that Lovino was of no use and sold him to Bonnefoy.

Out of the fire, into the frying pan, and into the fire again. Bonnefoy saw him as the weak pretty boy who couldn’t even raise the sails (with such a level of malnourishment, who _could?_ ). He wanted him mostly because of that beauty gene, and exploited it to his loins’ content.

But Bonnefoy was was weak and easily defeated by Adnan, and Adnan was, by far, the worst. Arrogant like Edelstein, violent like Beilschmidt, calculating like Vainamoinen, mad like Braginsky, and lustful like Kohler and Bonnefoy together. By this time, Lovino was sixteen and had been through every ocean near Europe, but hadn’t seen anything like this monster. Besides being a horrifying war machine, Adnan spent his leisure time violating the vassals he found attractive, and Lovino was no exception. When he took him, he did so with no privacy and in front of whoever was around at the time, much to the horror of other vassals and to the amusement of Adnan’s officials.

It wasn’t new that Lovino thought about jumping overboard - he didn’t know how to swim, after all - but it was the first time he tried it. He had limped out of his bed and sneaked past the officers in their night shift, heading to the deck of the galleon. Yet instead of finding it semi-deserted, he found his new owner.

In short, there were hostages, which Adnan didn’t give a fuck about, who became prisoners of an enemy ship. And that was how Lovino found himself in the armory of one of his new owner’s ships, crawling away from the other poor things that had gotten themselves there. Some of them had gotten hold of the swords and, instead of hacking at the door or walls, held them protectively in front of them, trembling. For their greatest enemies were anyone close to them. Lovino pitied them, yet knew that he would become that kind of person soon if this madness didn’t stop. And it showed no signs of doing so.

The door banged open, startling them to the point that some of the poor bastards dropped their weapons with a whimper and raised their hands in surrender. Lovino was in a corner that didn’t allow him to properly see the door, so he couldn’t see the person they were so frightened of. One of them that still had a sword stood up in defiance, though his shaking knees gave him away. The others watched in horror as he attempted to attack the person at the door, yet was disarmed and knocked unconscious with such ease and brutality, it was hard to believe a single man did it. But of course, Lovino had seen many with that seemingly superhuman amount of power.

There was chatter from the pirate, still hidden from Lovino’s view, in a language that seemed familiar to him, but not enough to fully understand it. He seemed to be talking to a crewmate, and he tried to identify some words. “ _Prisoners_ ” - “ _lackeys_ ” - “ _useful_ ” - from Lovino’s experience, he could tell they were deciding what to do with this fresh batch of livestock.

“ _Atención_ ,” boomed the voice of the man at the door, making them flinch. _Attention_ , Lovino could translate in his mind. Castilian was similar enough to Italian. “ _Nombres, idiomas, edades, y rangos._ "  _Names, languages, ages, and ranks._

It took a lot of encouragement for one of them to start speaking, from promises of safety to threats of death, but after the first one spoke, it all flowed along to the man’s contempt. Lovino looked from the corner as each of them presented themselves, as if they were saying their own death sentences, and hoped that they would overlook him. They were all vassals, concubines, and the occasional lower-rank official; six greek speakers, four castilian speakers, three french speakers, two italian speakers, and seven turkish speakers; twenty-two in total. None of them bothered to wake up the one that had been defeated, but they started nervously glancing at Lovino, since the pirates still didn’t seem to notice him yet.

Then a knife flew through the air and stuck itself with a clang in the wooden panels beside Lovino’s head, who didn’t dare move and stared transfixed at the knife that had nearly maimed him.

“ _Sin excepciones_ ,” said the pirate.  _No exceptions._

As he stepped into the room, turning to aim his glare at Lovino, the latter could now look at his new owner. The man was not as muscular as Adnan, nor as tall as Braginsky, but he looked like a man truly meant for the sea. Tan skin, green eyes wild like the sea itself, dark brown hair tousled and half-hidden by a magnificent black tricorne with white feathers, matching his heavy black boots and deep red overcoat embroidered with golden thread. He was intimidating in his own way, yet his eyes somehow softened when they reached Lovino.

"Would your name happen to be Feliciano?" he asked, surprisingly enough, in Italian.

Lovino shook his head, frantic and invaded by a different type of fear. “H-He’s my brother! How the f-fuck do you know his name?” he demanded, dreading the worst.

The pirate smirked. “Edelstein has him. He’s his favorite.”

_…What?_

No, that wasn’t possible! Lovino agreed to be sold so that his family would survive without another loss! Had- Had his father sold Feliciano too and stayed with the money for himself, that selfish bastard?!

"Apparently, Edelstein went to the same place where he picked up his brother - you - and found little Feli all alone, mourning his father’s death, and with no way to survive. He saved him, I guess you could say."

_…Oh._

It was too much to take in. His father died. His brother was now a enslaved by pirates. The whole purpose of Lovino putting up with his shit of a life had gone to hell.

And right now, he couldn’t do much but mutely cry about it.

"I didn’t hear you before," continued the pirate, unfazed by his tears. "Name, age, and rank."

With a heavy gulp, Lovino resigned himself to his new owner. “L-Lovino Vargas,” he uttered, trying his best for his voice not to quiver. “Seventeen,” he continued, then struggled to find the correct word for his rank. He wasn’t a lackey, because he’d have to be willing for that. He wasn’t just eyecandy either, because he shouldn’t suffer so much if that were the case.

“ _Schiavo._ ”

Slave.


	2. How strange;

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a note about languages: everyone is supposed to be speaking italian or castilian (spanish) unless otherwise stated, but i’m not going to write the whole thing in those languages bc there are a lot of languages in the fic k
> 
> so english yep

Not long after being “introduced”, Lovino and the other prisoners were informed that they would be working for Captain Fernandez, the same one who told Lovino about Feliciano’s fate. The Castilian had not just one boat, but a fleet of ten, all of which had attacked Adnan’s fleet of twenty four. The ex-hostages were to be divided among the ships, but Lovino was the only one to go to the main one,  _Isabel_. He didn’t know whether to be grateful, since he would be closer to the captain and his officials, or alarmed for the same reason.

Fernandez took him by the shoulders and guided him to his ship, much to his unease. “You might not like it, but we need extra hands in the crew,” he said, in what seemed like a poor motivational introduction. “That’s just the way things are, kid. If you’re not strong enough to create a current, you get swept along.” He realized his words didn’t bring much comfort, because he stopped talking and looked away with the excuse of supervising the ship.

Instead, Lovino’s mind was far away, and filled with the grim questions that always plagued him when he switched owners. Would this one be as violent? As insane? As lustful?

Then he saw something glint between the many layers of the captain’s attire. A silver crucifix dangled from his neck, and Lovino couldn’t help but stare at it. But then Fernandez saw him, and tucked the crucifix away from view. “…Are you a man of faith?” grumbled Lovino. All of his previous owners were dismissing and disrespectful of religion, something that Lovino believed had tied them to being humane.

It took him a moment, but the captain nodded and said nothing. He said nothing for a long time, Lovino decided not to ask anymore.

Sunlight started glowing in the horizon, and he realized he wouldn’t get any sleep. Not that he wasn’t used to it; he hadn’t been able to sleep well since Kohler, and that was years ago. The captain noticed the dark circles under his eyes, because he said with an unfamiliar tone, “You can sleep in my quarters for today.”

Far from comforting Lovino, it alarmed him to no end. He didn’t push him away, because if he angered him he might be done for, and instead resigned himself to look down with wide, fearful eyes.  _It’s going to happen again. It’s going to happen again._

Fernandez guided him to the stern of the Isabel and opened a door, leading to a small but private room with a desk and a bed. Lovino stayed in his place, waiting for his fate in front of the doorway.

The captain picked up a few things from the desk, as if the boy was not there. “I have a lot of things to do anyways, and I can’t have a subordinate weakened by lack of sleep.”  _Wait… What did that mean?_  “You can take today off and go to your proper quarters tomorrow.”

With that, the captain strode out of the room.

Tentatively, Lovino eased himself to sit on the bed. It felt, to be honest with himself, like heaven. It was stiff and moist, but it was the best bed he’d been in in about five years. The only one, in fact; all his nights were spent on the floor, or on a hammock if he was lucky.

Before he knew it, his back was against the sheets. A memory of his own soft bed floated into his thoughts. His brother and father sleeping beside him for warmth. His thoughts being how he was going to survive through tomorrow - that part hadn’t changed, but at least he had his family.

Right, he didn’t anymore. It was past the stage of making him sad. It just made him feel heavy. As if a lot of weight had just been dropped on him.

He curled up on the bed without appreciating its softness anymore. His relationship with his father had never been too good, he knew the man always preferred his little brother. Lovino didn’t hate him for selling him off, he understood that it was necessary to maintain Feliciano. At some point, he had forced himself to be happy about it. But now Feliciano must have been unhappy and lonely with the snobby pirate, and Lovino grieved that he hadn’t been able to do anything about his fate.

His eyes drifted close to Feliciano’s fearful cries. He found himself sinking through the ocean, the salty water stinging his eyes and wounds. In the near past, he would have welcomed the ache of his lungs, but now he just thrashed against the water, reaching for the surface where his brother’s terrified expression was visible. He fought against the intangible force that dragged him down, unable to escape from its deathly grasp, and watched the last bubble float up from his mouth, wide open and screaming a thousand reassurances…

“Sh…”

That didn’t come from him or Feliciano.

“Sh… It’s alright…”

In a split-second, he was back on the bed without opening his eyes. Strong arms curled around his head and back, pressing him into the warmth of a gentle embrace. It was a gesture that hadn’t come with good intentions from anyone from his experience, but the hand stroking the back of his head was… soothing. It reminded him of better times.

He noticed he had been shivering when he stopped, at the same time he realized that the only person who could be doing this was the captain. Why? His immediate thoughts were that either he was going to be taken advantage of or had been already. He forced his breathing to even. Sure enough, he felt the warm chest peel away, a calloused hand ruffle his hair one last time, and a pair of feet walking out of the room.

As soon as the door closed he shot up, staring after the captain. His hands dashed to prod every inch of his own body, looking for signs of abuse. There were no new ones, but there was no room in his mind for the thought that anyone would do such a thing without ulterior motives.

With that troubling thought, he lied back down on the bed and closed his eyes once again.

It was dawn when he woke up next. He wasn’t the only one in the room, too. The captain was sitting on his desk, his head resting on it and using his arms as a pillow. Sleeping, judging by his slow breathing.

Lovino crawled out of the bed without making much noise, lightfooted by nature, and creeped out the door. The officer in shift was in the crow’s nest, so he had no awkward explanation to give as he headed under the deck to the crew’s quarters. It surprised even him that nobody was woken up when he made his way between the disorganised hammocks full of snoring men. He found a free hammock, assumed it belonged to no one, and took the liberty of lying down on it.

As soon as he did, a loud bell rang out on the deck and the men all shuffled out of their places, dutifully running up to the deck. Lovino stumbled among the crowd several times trying to go unnoticed, receiving many “watch it, newbie” and the more confusing “you must be the captain’s new favorite”.

He followed the crowd to the hull, through its double-door, and to what appeared to be the kitchen, where a line was formed. He was shoved back every time he tried to get a place, and he ended up last in line. By the time he arrived, all the food was gone, the cook (surprisingly, a beautiful blonde lady) giving him an apologetic smile. Dismayed, he headed back on the deck and sat on the railing to wait for his orders, watching the rest of the crew enjoy their meal in various places around the ship.

"Here."

A half-full bowl of rice was suddenly in front of him, offered by none other than the mysterious captain. Wide-eyed, Lovino took it in his hands and proceeded to eat, grateful yet confused. The captain stood against the railing looking sideways at him, as if vigilant.

The food was not bad. Not good either, but edible. It had a too-salty tinge and it was a little too moist, but he needed it. If there was anything luxurious about his life, it was his taste buds, damn them.

The plate was empty in no time, and he nodded without looking up. “Grazie,” he mumbled, getting up and walking back to the kitchen before he had to confront the other man again.

He left the plate with the blonde lady (even managing to give her a small smile), and when he went back to his temporary place, the captain was gone and had taken his spot behind the wheel.  _What a mysterious man…_

A large hand placed itself on his shoulder, making him flinch. He turned his head to meet a tall man, with blonde hair, a scar on his forehead, and an intimidating stoic face. “Are you the new kid?” his deep voice boomed. He spoke in castilian, but did so slow enough that Lovino understood.

“Y-Yeah.” Trying to keep up his reluctance, he gave him a glare that looked more like a pained grimace. “And y-you are?”

“Sander,” said the man, looming over him. “First mate. Your job is to scrub the floors.” With a long, muscular arm, he pointed across the ship at a place near the bow, where several men gathered buckets of water and rags.

Sighing, Lovino disregarded previous events with the captain, however strange they were, and headed for what would be his unpaid job for the next period of his life.


	3. A simple boy -

Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, Lovino lifted his head from the ground and processed the early morning chatter starting to buzz in the crew’s quarters. The past week had been fairly normal, except for the nightmare incident, of course. The fear phase was over and gave way to the numb phase. And as per usual, he was having trouble with his simple job and was excluded by most of the crew, who openly claimed that they didn't want to get attached to someone who was likely to die an early death. Nothing new. How could he blame them, really?

Among the few that didn't blatantly avoid him were the friendly cook and the first mate. He didn't include the captain on that list, because he did the complete opposite of avoiding him. Lovino could very well sense when he was being watched; he had been feeling particularly observed since he boarded the ship, and whenever he turned to look, the captain didn't even bother to pretend he wasn't vigilant. Not that it happened all the time - it only did when he interacted with other crew members. It was almost as if the captain was... testing him, for some unknown trial or rite of initiation. Yes, that must've been it.

He remembered, after all the reflection, that he was supposed to be waking up when a foot crushed his stomach briefly, making him lurch, before it jumped away. "Sorry," said a groggy voice before hurrying away.

Lovino pulled himself up after that; sleeping on the floor was neither comfortable nor convenient, but at least he wasn't the only one who had to. With a limited amount of hammocks, it was first come first serve.

He walked across the deck to the kitchen as he did every morning, hurrying both to get ahead of those who hadn't woken up yet and to avoid the captain's strange gaze. He picked up his plate, flashing a small smile at the beautiful cook (receiving one in return), and headed to his corner of the ship, under the stairs that led to the stern deck.

He was getting used to the food, but as he wiped his mouth, he couldn't help but remember his father's food. If that old man was good at something, it was cooking. He'd make the most delicious creations out of scraps and cheap ingredients, a talent which Lovino as well as his brother had inherited. He was used to remembering these kinds of things by now; he found himself doing so since the latest change of ship and batch of news. He swallowed the rest of the overly moist fish trying to make himself believe it was comparable to homemade meals.

"Don't make a face, I made that!"

A shadow loomed over him, and he put on a smile as soon as he saw the cook's blonde locks shining against the sun. "I was only sad that it took me until this day to taste such great food," said Lovino.

She smiled and stuck out her tongue. "Nice save." Without waiting for an invitation, she ducked under the stairs and plopped down beside him. "But you can drop the act. I've seen how you really are with people, no need to cover up."

His smile faded. "I was taught that a lady should always be treated nicely," he insisted.

She let out a soft groan of annoyance, much to his dismay. "That is very hard to get these days, but no. I don't like it when people treat me differently just because I'm a woman, whether it's good or bad."

To be honest with himself, Lovino didn't want to argue with a lady whose name he didn't even know. He reverted back to his usual self with an ease that would have scared anyone. "Fine," he growled, munching on the fish again.

It was silent for an uncomfortable amount of time after that, and neither of them had moved until she spoke again. "No one's ever respected that before." Was that awe? "Thanks."

The girl turned and beamed at him, a gesture so pure that made him wonder what she was doing living with pirates. "What's your name?" she asked.

"...Lovino," he said, turning away.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Bella!"

It had been quite a while since both of them had someone like the other, so they just enjoyed each other's presence in a comfortable silence while Lovino finished his food.

"I met a lady like you," Lovino though out loud, remembering the partner of his first owner with remorse, but respect. "The one who brought me into this. She was capricious, but earned the right to be - she was the best fighter of the ship."

"Oh, that sounds a lot like Eliza," chirped Bella.

"I think that was her name," continued Lovino. "I remember she went by Hedervary."

"Yes, that's her!" she grinned. "She was the one that brought you out to sea?"

"She requested of Edelstein to pay my father for me."

"Oh..." Bella didn't seem to know how to react to that. He didn't blame her. "Well- er- I don’t think she does that anymore..."

"Don't try to comfort me," he grumbled. "It was a long time ago, I moved on."

She frowned. "Alright then..."

Bella seemed too pure, too innocent to be living such a life. "So what's your story? What's a lady like you doing here?"

"I owe everything to captain Carriedo," she stated.

He turned his head, his interest piqued. "How so?"

"He has a soft spot for kids- He saved our lives,” she retorted like it was obvious. He gave her a short, irritated look, then shrugged. If she didn’t want to tell the details, so be it. He did, however, notice she referred to more than one person.

As if on cue, the man in question stepped out of his quarters, yawning and scratching his stubble, dressed in simple clothes that made him blend in with the rest of the crew. He stopped in the middle of the deck and looked around as if looking for something, his eyes met Lovino's, and he continued his way to the kitchen.

Suspicions aroused, Lovino mumbled, "A soft spot, how?"

"He just doesn't want them to suffer," she moaned, as if elaborating was boring. "Maybe that's why he took a liking to you!" she piped up.

"He didn't-! What-!"

Bella laughed at his reaction. "You can't deny it!" she chuckled.

He scoffed. "Anyway, he's several years late. I'm not a child anymore."

"You have a point, but I think he still sees you as one."

He groaned. "That's demeaning."

"You two! Quit slacking off!"

First man Sander's voice yelled from across the deck, making him realize that the crew had gotten to work already. Bella took his empty plate and dashed to the kitchen before he could react, and he made a brisk job of walking to where the cleaning supplies were stored.

“Hey, cabin boy.” Sander’s large hand clasped over his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. "This week you'll help the chief carpenter. His name is Luca, he's in the storage."

As Sander went back to supervising the crew, Lovino sighed and headed to the lowest floor of the ship to meet this Luca.

 

* * *

 

It was hard to eat lunch with splinters all over his hands, courtesy of his new role. Luca had seemed like too much of a silent guy to ask him about a way not to get hurt - without being glared at and intimidated, that is. To his surprise, Bella sat beside him again. "What made you think I liked you in any way?” he growled.

“You treating me as anyone else,” she said in a casual tone, as if she was talking about the weather. “Which reminds me - did you act like this with Eliza too?"

"Act how?"

"You know, cranky, gloomy, usual you."

"Thank you...? And no, I didn't," he sighed. It felt strange talking to her about this. “She did most of the interacting, I just had to keep smiling."

She frowned. “This really doesn’t sound like her. When did this happen?” she inquired.

“Four… five years ago, something like that,” he shrugged, clawing slightly at his palms.

“That might be it...” She sighed and shook her head in dismissal. "Well, the Eliza I know has changed," she assured.

"Who knows..." Lovino tried once again to eat a sardine without his hands aching. He took a bite but hissed every time he moved his fingers, making the tiny splinters dig deeper into his skin. A thought came into his mind. "You seem to know Hedervary quite a bit. Do you see her often?"

Bella made a thoughtful frown. "We used to meet a lot - captain Edelstein and Tonio are good allies, so our crews sailed together whenever we had the chance."

The way she phrased it… It gave him a bad feeling. "And now?"

"Well, they went through a rough patch after Beilschmidt, so we couldn't meet as often. We still can’t... By the way, were you there when they were attacked?"

Lovino nodded, remembering the state of captain Edelstein when he last saw him - covered in blood and bruises to the point he was completely unrecognizable, defended by Hedervary, his last ship barely functional. "Yeah, I was one of the captured ones." He cleared his throat. "So... When do you think you'll get to see them again?"

She raised an eyebrow. “Last time we saw them was right before the Adnan incident, why?”

By “the Adnan incident”, he supposed she meant the failed hostage situation in which he arrived on the Isabel. He shook his head. “My little brother is there and I’d like to see him, that’s all.”

“Oh…” Bella was uncomfortable again. He realized that their conversations always took a gloomy turn, no matter how cheery she was. It wasn’t like he cared. "Well... I'm sorry, I don't think we'll see them again in less than a month..."

He nodded and ignored the knot in his throat, taking a shaky sip of his grog. The mug slipped and dropped, spilling its contents over his front. He cursed and stood up abruptly, hitting his head on the bottom of the wooden stairs. He cursed again.

Bella tilted her head still sitting on the floor. "You're clumsy," she stated.

He rubbed his head, but realized it was a bad decision and removed his hand, wincing. "No shit."

"Let me take a look at those hands."

Lovino was about to claim they were perfectly fine when he realized Bella wasn't the one who said that. His eyes darted up to meet the captain's emerald ones towering over him, leaning with one hand on the stairs.

"I- they're fine," blurted Lovino, feeling his face heat up from the embarrassment of knowing he'd seen his little accident.

"Let me look at them," the man insisted, his eyebrows tilted upwards in - concern?

Lovino didn't respond, but didn't move his hands either. Nor did he struggle when the captain took his wrists and examined his palms. There were at least thirty splinters in each hand; some were barely visible, but a lot were deep and thick enough to still draw blood. "Not bad enough for Rodrigo to take over, but enough to do something about it," he hummed. "Come with me." He released his wrists and gestured with his head towards somewhere in the ship.

"Wait," said Bella, standing up (careful not to bump her head). "I'm curious about one more thing, can I ask?"

Captain Carriedo seemed to be in no hurry, so Lovino nodded.

"You said you were kidnapped by Beilschmidt, right? Was that about the time he disappeared?"

Another, more downcast nod.

"What happened to him?"

It took him a while to fully recall the most gruesome death he had witnessed, with the most noble cause, and the most unexpected person. "His crew was all killed by a man called Braginsky, up north. He... He cut off Beilschmidt's  legs and arms before his head, because he managed to send his little brother to safety." It was sad to think that the moment he died was the moment Lovino started respecting him as a human being.

Her face paled, reminding him again of just what kind of sweet people had to face this cruel world. "And... How did you survive?"

"Bella," warned the captain.

Lovino considered it. Why exactly had he survived? Was it just because of Vainamoinen? He definitely hadn't meant to save him. The fact that he was still alive was a miracle, though he doubted God was still on his side. "Luck," he shrugged.

Bella looked at him with pity and ended the conversation by heading across the ship, where Sander was giving orders and drinking from his ever-present mug. He hated pity, but that was everything he could get.

Lovino shook it off and resigned himself to following the captain down to the floor right below the deck. It had about as many cannons as the floor under it (the crew's quarters), a few tables, and dozens of chairs in various conditions. It wasn't deserted, but all of the men were busy tending to the cannons or gambling. He stay put beside the stairs as the captain headed for the base of the central mast, to a small cabinet, and pulled out a wooden box. He sat on a nearby chair and gestured Lovino to follow.

The boy took his place on a chair beside him while he rummaged the box, digging through small metal instruments and tissues for a particular something. With a victorious 'aha!', he pulled out a pair of tweezers. "Rodrigo would have killed me if I woke him up to ask him for this," he chuckled.

"Who's Rodrigo?" Lovino surprised himself with his own boldness at speaking to the captain. Maybe Bella had rubbed off on him quickly.

"My brother, surgeon of the ship," he said, grabbing one of Lovino's hands again.

"And... Why isn't he awake?"

"He says he likes the night shift better, but he really just hates interacting." And then he started pulling out the splinters, working each one with unbelievable delicacy. Lovino kept his amazement silent. There really was a lot to the man that wasn't typical of a pirate captain, and it made him uneasy. He still expected there to be something else.

As the man changed hands, he tried to start a conversation. "So Beilschmidt did die," he pondered, his voice carrying the tiniest bit more sorrow than usual. Lovino only nodded. "You've really been through a lot."

Lovino scoffed, ignoring the common sense part of his mind that told him not to act like that with a pirate captain. "Like you would know."

Captain Carriedo, however, didn't stop his treatment. "Oh, I know," he replied simply. Something in his tone made Lovino back down for the moment, but the other continued. "You've seen so much for a kid..."

"I'm fucking seventeen years old!" He pretended not to hear some of the gambling pirates’ snicker.

"How old were you when you went out to sea?" he asked so casually it was almost painful.

But it wasn't that personal for him, he had gotten used to his life being an open book. "About thirteen, why?"

"Why did you give in?"

Now, _that_ was a bit too much. "Why do _you_ care?"

And out of everything he could have done, the captain smiled. "No reason. Just checking how much you wanted to tell."

He dropped the pincers back in the box and tucked it in its cabinet. Lovino, hands back into full functionality, was about to get back to work when captain Carriedo spoke again. "You're clumsy, you keep your secrets, you built your own personality, you still get splinters..."

"Look, if this isn't going anywhere, this is _your_ ship I'm helping on."

He just laughed and shook his head. "No, no, what I'm trying to say..." His air of superiority had completely vanished. The skill of changing image so quickly was one to be scared of. "Despite everything that's happened to you, you're just a normal kid."

Lovino actually never looked at it that way.

"And that's something not everyone can accomplish."

All he could do, with eyes wide and mind puzzled, was give a slow nod as he took the staircase to the bottom of the ship.

 

* * *

 

Far from his seeing or hearing range, captain Carriedo went back to the main deck to meet up with his first mate.

"Sander," he called at the blonde.

Said man took a swig, gave the wheel to a nearby sailor, and walked down to meet the captain. "Yes?"

"Since we're not going anywhere in particular, I'm thinking of meeting Roderich. Where did he say he was going?"

Aside from being visibly confused, Sander answered without question. "Gibraltar, I believe," he replied.

"We can go to the Marinids after that for restocking, yes?"

Sander nodded. "I'll sort out the route."

As the taller man walked away towards the wheel, where the navigator was sitting by, the captain noticed the blonde girl with a green bandanna leaning on the railing, grinning at him. "What?" he asked.

"You _know_ what," Bella giggled as she sauntered towards him, then changed her attitude and frowned all of a sudden. "And as soon as we set foot on land, you're going to a barber."

His hand went to scratch his stubbly chin out of instinct. "Why do you hate it so much?"

"It looks horrible on you!"

"But if I shave it off then everyone will confuse me and Rodrigo!"

With a last childish pout, she went back to the kitchen. It wasn't the first time this had happened, and the captain never liked it. "Is it really _that_ bad?!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shhhh there's comic relief and nothing hurts shhhhhhhh
> 
> thanks to matesprit moar-apples.tumblr.com for helping me beta read <3
> 
> edit: WHY THE FUCK DO I ALWAYS CONFUSE BERING AND GIBRALTAR LIKE WHAT THE SHIT anyways i fixed that


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